New in Company of Heroes 2

TrueSight

This functions exactly as it sounds. If there’s a building next to your infantry, you won’t be able to see what’s behind it until you turn the corner. If a vehicle deploys smoke canisters, the entire area will be obscured and neither player can see through it unless units are moved to have better sight lines. Watch the in-game “Line of Sight” tutorial. Watch our Cold Weather tutorial video. A wily player can take advantage of true line of sight in many ways that will be covered in the Advanced Tactics section.

Vaulting

Infantry squads and Snipers are able to vault over low terrain like sandbags, trenches, wooden fences, and stone walls. This gives them greater speed when traversing a battlefield than team weapons like HMGs that must find gaps in such obstacles, which restrict their movement options. To vault, select an infantry unit and right-click the object you wish to vault. Some objects cannot be vaulted due to bushes or other terrain being in the way. Weapon teams cannot vault.

ColdTech

Company of Heroes 2 features a revolutionary and technically-sophisticated in-game weather system to represent one of the most significant influences on the outcome of the Eastern Front during World War II. On winter maps, not only must you battle your opponent, but also contend with General Winter for survival.

Watch the in-game “Snow” tutorial.
 Watch our Cold Weather tutorial video.

• Blizzard Effects: Deep snow and ice are recreated. Visibility is reduced. Units suffer cold much more quickly.
• Deep Snow Effects: Movement is slowed for all units, infantry are camouflaged during blizzards, and tracks are left in the snow when units move through an area. Deep Snow can be removed by explosions.
• Ice Effects: Ice can be destroyed by explosions from Mortars, artillery, and tanks, as well as by flamethrowers, mines, and satchel charges. When ice is destroyed, any unit in that location sinks into the freezing water and dies instantly. Vehicles slide over ice when turning.

Spawning

While production buildings do create units, the units walk or drive onto the map from a map border in your base sector rather than appear in front of a building. Watch our Spawning tutorial video.

Watch the in-game “Spawning” tutorial for basic information regarding spawning units and setting Rally Points. Use Rally Points so that your units automatically move to a chosen staging area once they are produced rather than wait in your base for orders. The ideal way to set a Rally Point is through hotkeys rather than moving your screen to your base to select the desired building. For example, to set a Rally Point for your HQ, press F1 and right-click at the desired location. The best Rally Points for vehicles are on roads so they can quickly make their way to the front line. Infantry Rally Points ought to be in cover or behind a building to ensure that your new squads aren’t wiped out before you realize they’re under attack.

Vehicles

Abandoned Vehicles

When a vehicle is damaged almost to the point of destruction, there’s a chance that the crew will abandon it. It can then be recrewed in the same way that team weapons can. Then they can be repaired by your infantry or your enemy’s, although they will often have a destroyed engine and other vehicle criticals. If a recrewed vehicle is repaired back to full health, it can turn the tide of battle.

Criticals

These are status conditions that have a chance of occurring when a vehicle is damaged by an attack, and increase in likelihood as a vehicle’s hit points are reduced. Vehicle criticals existed in Company of Heroes, but to a far lesser extent. It’s important to recognize which icons refer to which criticals because temporary criticals can generally be safely ignored while permanent criticals require that you repair a vehicle to full hit points to remove the negative state, whether it is a damaged engine or a destroyed main gun.